Lost Horses

The Navara fuel consumption problem is solved. (We hope).
The last tank full around Goolwa, on flat ground with good weather, returned 11 litres per hundred kilometres,  previously it had been between 13  and 15. We had the air conditioner running most of the time and they tell me that can cost 1 to 2 litre per 100 k, so it looks like we are back to the expected performance for the Navara.
I have been complaining about the poor fuel consumption for the last 50,000 km, and despite several attempts Unley Nissan could not find anything wrong, even hinting it was my driving that was the problem. They reflashed the fuel pump twice ( at $130 a time), I have had it at a specialist diesel mechanic and finally at Turbo Tune. The Dyno results are shown in the graph. Killowat hours are shown on the left scale, indicating 15 Kilowatts missing, that's about 20 horses in the imperial system. On the right hand scale, using the lower set of graph lines, is the torque in Newton Metres. There is a big increase in torque at the lower rev range (bottom scale) which measures the pulling power when starting from stationary.
Total cost to find the problem-
 Cost of investigations and resultant work about $1000.
Cost of excess fuel at 3 litre per 100k for 50000km at $1.50 per litre is $2250
Total cost is $3250.
Cost of cure is about $1 worth of electronic contact cleaner on the hot wire air flow meter.
It is worth a spray each time you change your air filter, it could save you from feeding 20 horses that are not doing any work!

Goolwa

OK, so it is only 70 ks up the road, but we won a holiday auction here so we are getting it at a good price. There is another reason, I have been chasing the terrible fuel consumption problems with the Navara and this seems like a good chance to test the latest development.
I took the Navara to Turbo Tune for a dynomometer test, they found about 20 horses had escaped from under the bonnet. The culprit was the air flow monitor that was dirty, so it was giving wrong information to the computer that controls the Air to Fuel Ratio. A good clean and the horses returned. The Navara feels better with more low end torque and it will cruise in overdrive without dropping down a gear at the slightest hill. The big test will come when I fill the tank up.

Warrnambool

We are at Warrnambool, dog trials at the start then a week of holidays. Kathy won a Holiday Auction so we got 10 days at half price. The Pic shows the view over the Bay of Martyrs which is part of the Bay of Islands National Park at the end of the Great Ocean Road.
The saga with the van continues, it was booked in for a service after the Longreach trip, but after 12 days, nothing had been done so we took it back and I did the bulk of the repairs and servicing needed. The wheel alignment was done by Complete Laser Wheel Alignment. Both wheels were out and needed re-adjusting for toe in and castor/camber angle.
The fuel consumption for the Navara is still a problem. We had a week end at Mount Gambier for the trials, (That's why I had to get the van back from the Dave Bensons, the non-service agent, their idea of "customer service" is the mare service provided by the stallion). We left the van at Mt Gambier, drove home and got 12 litres per 100 Km, it should do better than 9. On the way back to the Mount, it did 13. Nissan say there is nothing wrong, but 40% worse than their advertised rate shouts out something is wrong.
We will be taking the Navara to an independent Nissan mechanic when we get back.

Alice Springs

We always stay at Blatheskite park when we stay in Alice Springs, its the showgrounds. We are allowed here because we have dogs, and the dog training grounds are here so we are camped right outside the gate. The DOGS sign that looks like it is on the roof of the Navara in the photo is on the fence round the dog grounds.
The trials are over, we are staying a couple of days to be tourists, then we will head for home.
I put the spare tyre on the caravan to replace the one that has worn unevenly so we can get home. We felt it was better to wreck a $150 tyre due to scrubbing rather than have the worn tyre blow and wreck a $60,000 caravan.

Tennant Creek

We got to Mt Isa last night then set out early to get to Tennant Creek. One tyre on the Navara was a pound under pressure when I checked it, so after filling up the diesel tank at the Shell servo, I looked for the air line. "Its Broke" said the check-out chic," Try the BP up the road, or the Mobil, or the truck stop". The truck stop was miles away, the Mobil went out of  business last month and the BP had an airline but no pressure gauge. I managed to blow up the tyre and checked it with my own gauge, then left Mt Isa and set of across the Barkly later than we intended. The pic shows the four of us at the Barkly Homestead where we stopped for lunch. Having traveled across the Barkly during my Telstra days, I expected to be traveling in near desert conditions, but the last few years have been wet so it was like traveling through park lands, with lots of thick undergrowth, green trees and shrubs with lots of spring flowers.
We got to Three Ways (where Tennant Creek town was planned to be in the 1860s, but the beer wagon broke an axle crossing the creek so the miners all moved down the road and set up camp where the beer was, and so the town grew there) I set up the van in the van park, and I noticed a van tyre was wearing very unevenly. Looks like I will have to get the van checked before we leave tomorrow.

Longreach

Longreach is famous for being the original base of QANTAS and they have the QANTAS Founders Museum with the history of the airline. The pic shows us standing by one of the original QANTAS planes that was actually built at Longreach.
It has been an eventful journey to get here. Hannah got something in her eye in Charleville and we stayed an extra day so that she could get treatment, then when we were walking the dogs before leaving Charleville, Hannah pulled Kathy off balance causing her to fall. This gave her scraped knees and elbows, and a hard hit on her left hand. The swelling and pain in her wrist did not go away, so today we were visiting the Longreach Hospital. There were only nurses in attendance, the doctor was at the other end of an internet connection using the medical equivalent of Skype. The conclusion was her hand is badly bruised, but if the swelling and pain are still there in 5 days, go for an X-Ray. Reminds me of the old doctor joke, "Take one of these pills before you go to sleep tonight, and IF you wake up in the morning, take another one"

Charleville

The drive to Charleville was long and full of wild life, and death. There were animals on or near the road, the pic show some emu chicks close to the side of the road with Dad looking on. (Emu mums are the ultimate feminists, they lay the eggs, give them to Dad and take off for the emu equivalent of a singles bar). Apart from the emus, there were kangaroos, goats by the hundreds, sheep, cattle, lizards, snakes and a couple of pigs. Road kill all the way made the trip a bit smelly, and dodging carcasses became a full time occupation.
We stopped at Baileys Bar caravan park. After we said we knew Dave Butcher but were not responsible for any of his debts, they let us in and gave us a really good site.
We will be here for two nights, so tomorrow we will be tourists for the day.

Cobar

Pulled in to Cobar to a really good caravan park. Big sites with lots of space between vans, grassy areas to walk the dogs and a big area at the back for them too. We stayed an extra night so we could have a look round and do the washing. The pic shows the recreation lake and reservoir at Cobar where we went for a drive, after visiting the Peake Gold Mine and looking at the huge hole they dug for an open cut mine at Fort Bourke. Heading north towards Charleville tomorrow.

Broken Hill

The trials at Broken Hill are over. There was a good pas in UD with a dog getting it's first pass in UD after over a year of trialing. Another pass in Open completed the list, but there were several dogs that had a bit of bad luck that caused a fail.
We did a Rally demo that sparked a lot of interest, and then we went back to the van for a nanna nap.
Tomorrow the holiday starts.

The Big Trip Begins-

tomorrow. Forecast high winds, thunderstorms and rain have persuaded us to delay the start until tomorrow. We have to be in Broken Hill by Friday, so two days will be plenty, we could do it in one if we have to.
Our original plan was to leave on Monday, but Kathy had to work, so we delayed until Wednesday so we could get everything prepared on Tuesday. The weather gods were against us, we have delayed until Thursday.
We have experienced towing the caravan in strong wind and it is not pleasant.
The forecast is for gale force north winds today, easing to westerly tomorrow. As we are heading north west, it could save us $50 in fuel.

Berri

After some time at home we are in the van again. This time we are in the Riverland at Berri on the Murray River. Kathy bid for some time at the Berri Caravan park travel auctions and won so we have 5 days at a really good rate. The Riverland dog club is holding trials so we are using the time to have a holiday and do the dog trials.
Kathy's changes to the van annex work very well. We can now have the canvas pulled tight so it does not flap in the wind and the ridiculous pole in the corners is not needed so we will not be wearing a hole in the roof of the annex.
The pic shows the river across the road from the caravan park where we walk the dogs down a 4 km walking trail. Lots of bird life all along the river bank, very relaxing. The dogs will sleep like logs tonight.

June Long Week End

The June long week end always sees us in Whyalla for the dog trials, and this year, here we are again.
We did Port Pirie for a week end a few weeks ago, but that is all the trips since Warrnambool. Our next trip will be to the Riverland for trials  then in September we will be heading off for a month, starting at Broken Hill and ending at Alice Springs, possibly via Longreach in Queensland.
Not been very success full at the trials, no passes, but some good runs.

Hopkins Falls

Being a tourist is so easy. Get up, have breakfast and wonder what to do next is much better than having the days planned for weeks ahead. We went to the Hopkins River falls which are just out of Warrnambool (see pic) then on the way back called in at the cheese factory for a tasting. The dogs had a run at the falls so they just slept while we went round the museum next to the cheese tasting.

There was a mild panic when the hot water coupling under the sink failed and sprayed hot water through the cupboards. The plastic push on connector failed, just like the one on the Jayco caravan at Orbost, see link to that post.

http://www.knkxtrail.blogspot.com.au/2011/02/orbost.html

At least this time the damage was limited to non perishables, but we still had to pull everything out to mop up and dry the cupboards and floor, and I knew how to fix it from the Orbost experience.

Warrnambool

At last we are away again. It has been a long time at home since November, so being back on the road feels extra good!. The dogs are in competitions at Warrnambool, so we have come down early to have a long break. It took three days to get here, first night was Tailem Bend, then down to Beachport, arriving at Surfside Park in Warrnambool about lunch time on Tuesday. 3 days for 700k, but we did take the pretty way round through the Coorong and the South East Coast. Lucky we did because there has been a serious weather event that is dumping lots of rain along the direct route, so we have avoided a drenching.

The pic shows the coast near the Hopkins River mouth at Warrnambool. You can see the storm clouds passing to the south east of us, all we have is some wind and a few drops of rain.